As someone who has spent about a half-century as a journalist, I understand why politicians might find us annoying. Government is all about protecting people and delivering solutions to society’s most complex problems, and those solutions are often controversial. Having a swarm of reporters buzzing around, asking why you’re doing what you’re doing and noticing your shortcomings, can seem unfair. A politician is tempted to say to a reporter, “If you’re so smart, how come you’re not the one with the microphones and cameras stuck in your face?”
But press scrutiny is part of the deal in a democracy. In the United States of America, it is a right of the people that is specifically protected by our Constitution. That is, government is not allowed to limit press freedom, according to the First Amendment. If a politician doesn’t like it, the solution in a democracy is not to try to squelch the free press; it’s to get out of politics.
So that’s the dynamic that’s really underlying the current standoff between President Donald Trump and the White House press corps. Last week, Trump announced that because of what he called “negative stories,” the White House would bar reporters from two major TV networks and a widely-read digital outlet. He threatened to go after other news organizations, too.
In response, not only did CNN, MS NOW and Politico file suit, but also all the major networks suspended their pooled coverage of the president, and still photo coverage was curtailed by The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press and others.
That kind of solidarity is rare in the competitive media ecosystem. It even includes Fox News, which has bowed down to Trump in so many ways ever since he came down his golden escalator and into the political fray.
Legal experts consider it quite unlikely that Trump’s action will be sustained by the courts. When he tried the same sort of move in his first term, pulling the White House credentials of just one reporter, he was forced by a federal judge to back down. In legal terms, what Trump is doing is called “viewpoint discrimination,” and it’s unconstitutional.
But there’s a problem for the media beyond Donald Trump, however unconstitutionally hostile he is to free speech. The American people aren’t quite sure about the value of a free press.
A Pew Research study this month reported that about three-quarters of Americans consider a free press to be extremely or very important to the American society, and that’s good. But there’s also this: Over half say the government should have the power to order a news organization to take down a story if it poses a risk to national security. And almost half said the government should be able to order the removal of a story for inaccuracies.
So you have to ask: Who decides what is a threat to national security? A tough question, I’d say, since we know our government has often lied to us about that. And how do you define what is accurate or not? On big, complex issues, there’s rarely a bright line between what’s true and what’s false; it may lie in the eye of the beholder. So putting control of information into the hands of some government officials is problematic. Some are liars. Some claim the shield of national security just to protect themselves from political peril or embarrassment.
That’s why our nation’s founders gave us the protection of the First Amendment - so that we, the people, would have the freedom to sort for ourselves what is true or false, based on the wide range of viewpoints and access to information that a free society needs.
So we need to do a better job of civics education, so that people understand the value of free speech that government can’t regulate. And we need to elect officials who appreciate that constitutional imperative, and won’t go along with those who are eager to restrict it.
For his part, Trump says he banned CNN and Politico and MS NOW because they pose a threat to national security; the move was not “an assault on Free Press,” he said in a statement, which he claimed to “cherish.” That’s what the president said - that he cherishes free speech. I’d say that is malarkey. Bunkum. Balderdash.
Just my personal opinion, mind you - that is, my protected free speech, thank God and the founders of our republic. Offered here with confidence in our Constitution, and hope for our free nation’s future.
Rex Smith, the host of The Media Project on WAMC, is the former editor of the Times Union of Albany and The Record in Troy. His weekly digital report, The Upstate American, is published by Substack.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.